Cowan v Foreman & ors [2019] WTLR 707

Autumn 2019 #176

The appellant appealed from an order of Mostyn J by which he refused her permission pursuant to s4 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act) to bring an application out of time for reasonable financial provision out of the estate of her late husband (the deceased), who had died in 2016 leaving an estate of £29m. By his will the deceased left all his business assets qualifying for 100% business property relief on a discretionary trust (the business property trust) for a class of beneficiaries (the discretionary beneficiarie...

R (on the application of Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice [2018] WTLR 597

Summer 2018 #172

The Appellant, Mr Conway, suffered from terminal motor neurone disease. He sought a declaration under s4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that s2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, which makes assisted suicide a criminal offence, disproportionate interferes with his right to respect for his private life under Art8 of the ECHR.

At first instance, Mr Conway put forward four main arguments:

1. The ‘blanket ban’ on the provision of assistance for suicide constituted an interference with his Art8(1) rights in a way which is disproportio...

Anderson v Spencer [2018] WTLR 1

Spring 2018 #171

The mother and executor (V) of the deceased appealed against an order that a DNA sample from the deceased, held by a hospital, be tested against the respondent (D), to determine whether he was the son of the deceased. The deceased had suffered from an hereditary form of bowel cancer called Lynch Syndrome, and so D wanted to discover if he was at risk of this condition developing. V refused consent. D applied for a declaration of paternity under s55A Family Law Act 1986, in the context of which he sought an order for testing of the DNA sample collected by the hospital during the ...

Randall v Randall [2016] EWCA Civ 494

September 2016 #162

This appeal concerned when a party has standing to bring a probate claim. The appellant (H) and respondent (W) were divorced. As part of the divorce settlement, they agreed that if W were to inherit more than £100,000 from her mother, she would keep the £100,000 and the balance would be split equally between H and herself. On her death, W’s mother left £100,000 to W in her will and (after some small specific legacies) the balance of her estate (estimated at £150,000) to W’s children.

H brought a probate claim to challenge the validity of the will alleging that it was n...